Decoy



April 2, 1940. w; c. PEARCE DECOY Filed Jan. 16, 1939 Patented Apr. 2, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFiE DECOY -Wilbur C. Pearce, Minneapolis, Minn. Application January 16, 1939, Serial No. 251,153

2 Claims.

My invention relates to fowl decoys and more particularly to the mounting of the head thereof on the body.

Said invention has for its object to provide means for pivotally mounting the head of a decoy on its body, whereby said head may be turned about a vertical axis relative to the body. This mounting of the head permits the same to be set in various different positions or turned so that it faces rearwardly thereby reducing the length of the decoy and makes the same more compact to facilitate packing, carrying, shipping, storing or the like.

The novel mounting of the head on the body yieldingly holds the head in position and in case said head is struck or undue strain placed thereon it will yield and thereby prevent breakage or damage thereto. To the above end, generally stated, the invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates the invention, like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawing:

Fig. l is a side elevation of a duck decoy some parts being broken away and sectioned and other parts being broken away;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in elevation and partly in transverse vertical section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1 and;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary bottom plan view.

The invention, as shown, is embodied in a duck decoy and the body 4 thereof is made of cork except for a relatively thin base member 5 made of wood and glued or otherwise affixed to the bottom of said body 4.

The head 6 and the neck 1 of the decoy are made of a single piece of wood and the under surface of said neck is fiat and rests on a corresponding fiat surface on the body 4 with freedom to turn about on a vertical axis.

To permit turning and angular movements of the head 6 relative to the body 4 I detachably and removably connect the head 6 to the body t by a coiled spring 8. The spring 8 is held within a vertical hole 3 which extends completely through the body 4 and the base member 5. One end of the spring 3 is attached by a screw-eye ID to the lower end of the neck 1 and the other end thereof 1 is attached to the base member 5 by a pin ll To release the head 6 from the body 4 it is only necessary to engage the loop in the spring 8, through which the pin II extends, with a hook and stretch said spring sufficiently to release the pin l i from the groove I2 and then withdraw said pin from the spring 8. The spring 8 is held under sufficient tension so that friction between the neck I and the body 4 will hold the head where positioned.

Obviously the spring 8 will permit the head 6 to be turned about a vertical axis relative to the body 3. The spring 3 will also yield and permit angular movements of the head 6 relative to the body 4, so shown by broken lines in Figs. 1 and 2.

In case the head is struck, or undue pressure applied thereto, the spring 8 will yield and thereby permit sufficient movement of the head relative to the body to prevent breakage or damage thereto.

It is now the general practice to secure the head of a decoy to the body thereof by a fixed dowel pin held in place by toe-nailing or glue or both.

To afford sufficient stock to secure the dowel pin to the base member it is necessary to provide a base member substantially one inch thick which adds materially to the weight of the decoy thus causing the same to sink to a considerable depth in the water which materially aifects the floating qualities of the decoy.

By use of the spring 8 to attach the head to the body 4 it is possible to use a relatively thin base member so that the decoy floats on top of the water.

Usually decoys. are carried in a sack and before placing my improved decoy in a sack the head is turned backward thus materially reducing the length of the decoy and positions the head where the same is not liable to be damaged.

The drawing illustrates a commercial form of the invention, but it will be understood that the same is capable of certain modifications as to details of construction, arrangement and combination of parts within the scope of the invention herein disclosed.

What I claim is:

1. A fowl decoy, the head of which is loose relative to the body, a coiled spring held in a hole that extends vertically and completely through the body under the head, one end of the spring being attached to the head, and a pin extending through a loop in the other end of the spring and engaging the body at its under side as a base of resistance and holding the spring under tension, the contacting surfaces of the head and body being flat, whereby when the head is tilted vertically relatively to the body the spring will be stretched so that when the head is released it will be returned to normal position by the spring.

2. The structure defined in claim 1 in which the pin is seated in a groove in the under side of the body and held by the body at the ends of the groove against endwise movement.

WILBUR C. PEARCE. 

